APOD: 2026 August 26 – JWST Images The Lion’s Head Nebula

NASA Science reports that the James Webb Space Telescope has released a new composite image of the Lion’s Head Nebula, captured with its NIRCam and MIRI instruments. The nebula, catalogued as NGC 2392, is the glowing shell left behind by a Sun‑like star that exhausted its nuclear fuel, leaving a hot white dwarf at its center. Intense radiation from that stellar core is ionizing the surrounding gas, sculpting the lion’s face and mane from dust clumps and ionized clouds. This sharper view will help researchers better understand how gas and dust interact with white‑dwarf radiation, advancing our knowledge of planetary nebula evolution.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton